“Without Doing Any Harm” by Melanie Rigney

“Without Doing Any Harm” by Melanie Rigney

Tuesday of the Twenty-second Week in Ordinary Time

The Spirit scrutinizes everything, even the depths of God. Among men, who knows what pertains to the man except that his Spirit is within? Similarly, no one knows what pertains to God except the Spirit of God. (1 Corinthians 2:10-11) 

The Lord is just in all his ways. (Psalm 145:17)

Jesus rebuked (the man with the Spirit of an unclean demon) and said, “Be quiet! Come out of him!” Then the demon threw down the man in front of them and came out of him without doing him any harm. (Luke 4:35)

Piety

Lord, cast out my demons.

Study

They are so visual, those words from Luke 4 about Jesus casting out the unclean demon. We can see Jesus issuing the command, and the demon discarding like so much garbage what had been his host body, then departing.

But perhaps the most important part of the verse comes at the end: All this happened with no harm to the man. Why? Because God was with him all the time.

Who knows what evil the demon had wrought while he was in the man? Mental anguish and disturbance? Violence? Words that cut deep into those around him? Surely, there was work yet to be done, whether it was internal or external healing and penance. But the demon could not destroy the man’s very essence, his Spirit.

Think about the person you know personally or feel you know through our celebrity-of-the-second culture whom you find most difficult to love. You may struggle not to hate this person actively. Perhaps you find it easier to consider that an unclean demon may inhabit her or him. But can you summon up the faith to believe that the Spirit of God still resides in that host body, that at the core, the person is ripe for redemption and in need of your love if not your acceptance? Give it a try, even for an hour. If her or his demon doesn’t come out, perhaps yours will. 

Action

Ask Jesus to cast out your demons, in particular, those you are too blind to see.

 

Image Credit: Fotorech/Pixabay, https://pixabay.com/photos/sky-freedom-happiness-relieved-2667455/ 

“Lose and Love Are Intertwined” by Rev. Paul Berghout (@FatherPB)

 “Lose and Love Are Intertwined” by Rev. Paul Berghout (@FatherPB) 

Monday of the Twenty-third Week in Ordinary Time

Lectionary: 431

Piety

I came to you in weakness and fear and much trembling, and my message and my proclamation were not with persuasive words of wisdom, but with a demonstration of spirit and power, so that your faith might rest not on human wisdom but on the power of God.  I Corinthians 2:4-5

Jesus came to Nazareth, where he had grown up, and went according to his custom into the synagogue on the sabbath day. He stood up to read and was handed a scroll of the prophet Isaiah…When the people in the synagogue heard this, they were all filled with fury. They rose up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town had been built, to hurl him down headlong. But he passed through the midst of them and went away. (Luke 4:16-17, 28-30)

Study

In the book, How to Disappear, there are true stories of real people who faked their deaths to collect on life insurance policies or to start over. To catch them, people hire special investigators.  The book says many get caught by doing things like visiting their mother. Or, they chose a new name that is very similar to their old name. Or, they Google themselves a lot.

A private investigator from New York named Steven Rambam says, “People do a remarkably limited amount of planning when it comes to faking their deaths. Faking your death is a full-time job, and I can guarantee you that if you slip up with even the slightest sign of life, we will find you.”

The Gospels this week indeed point out that following Christ also is a full-time job.  Yet, without planning, the temptations of the world will slip us up. 

As we began the Twenty-third Week in Ordinary Time, the Sunday readings set the tone for our week. As faithful followers, the lessons encourage us to “love one another.” Ezekiel tells us that we are responsible for each other, and Paul’s letter to the Romans offers: “Owe nothing to anyone, except to love one another.” In Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus tells us to challenge each other on our behavior and to pray, “For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.”

In Luke’s Gospel this week, we see how Jesus spends a night in prayer and calls his twelve closest followers. When people come to him from all over, he heals them. Jesus announces that the poor, the hungry, those who weep, and those hated or excluded or denounced because of him are blessed. He warns those who are rich, filled, laughing, and spoken well of, for fate will reverse their destinies as foretold in the Magnificat. He cautions not to be too quick to see the splinter in someone else’s eye when we do not notice the “wooden beam” in our own eyes. Jesus says that our fruits reveal our identity.  Only by building our lives upon Jesus as a firm foundation can we hope to survive crises.

Today, Luke starts off the weekdays with a reading and homily Jesus presents that the people reject.

1.  Speaking of no signs of life, sin and worldly passions are to be put to death by the Cross. Not even the slightest sign of life.

Galatians 2:20 says, “I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me…”

Dead to glittering temptations that are fake.

When do I place the world’s values above God’s commandments?

Pope Pius XI: “A plain cross has no blood and no nail holes - it has no trace of suffering… When a cross is plain, we are deprived of seeing this truth...we are deprived of being reminded of how much God loves us and how He has proved his Love...we are deprived from the comforts of seeing this, and we may turn in towards ourselves rather than to our Crucified Lord.”

Mary Hinkle talked about the dangers of forgetting about the Cross: “I was recently part of a small focus group that offered feedback on a newly designed website for the seminary where I teach. We talked for a while about the colors, the graphics, the menus, and submenus, and then one of the group members said, “Nowhere on these pages is there a Cross.”

She was right.

I was surprised, but even more stunned and chastened by the realization that I had not even noticed its absence.

I wondered what else we were not clearly saying, “Look, you need to know this man died. He was tortured and executed. It was awful.”[i]

Peter had wanted a Messiah who could miraculously change the military, economic, and political situation of Israel. He initially could not accept how our Gospel today begins with Matthew 16:21, “Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer greatly.”

Jesus St. Faustina: “There is but one price at which souls are bought, and that is suffering united to My suffering on the Cross. Pure Love understands these words; Carnal Love will never understand them.” (324).

To live involves suffering, but surviving means a person must find meaning in that sufferings. We can offer up our moments of suffering to save a soul.

The Good News is that Peter taught the Church to cherish the message of Christ’s death and so not be frightened by it.

The cruel passion that Jesus foretells shares an integral relationship with the good news of the kingdom of God that Jesus has announced that new eternal life follows.

Lastly, we hear in our Gospel today something you could only say to a really good friend: “Get behind me, Satan.”

Jesus isn’t saying that Peter is evil incarnate.

Peter is an obstacle.

He is standing between Jesus and God’s plan because Peter was rebelling against suffering like Jeremiah’s outburst in our First Reading, “You Duped me O LORD.”

You played a trick on me.

God sent Jeremiah to announce that the Kingdom of Judah would be taken captive, and they shackle him in the stockade for his warning.

“Circumstances” comes from two Latin words: circum, “around,” and sta’re, “to stand.”  Circumstances place an obstacle between me and my acceptance of the grace of God in the present moment.

In times of troubling circumstances, surrender. Peter got rebuked by Jesus because Peter was demonstrating his need to “over control” pretty much everything in life, even God when he just needed to yield to God’s saving plan.

Our Lord teaches us today, “Whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.”

Jesus entwines “Lose” and “Love” Lose: substitute a “v” for the “s” and it spells Love.  Amen.

---

[i] Source: Lesson Plan (James 3:1-12; Mark 8:27-38) by Mary E. Hinkle).

“You’ve Got to Tell Somebody” by Wayne Miller

“You’ve Got to Tell Somebody” by Wayne Miller

Twenty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time

You duped me, O LORD, and I let myself be duped; / you were too strong for me, and you triumphed. / All the day I am an object of laughter; / everyone mocks me. Whenever I speak, I must cry out, / violence and outrage are my message; / the word of the Lord has brought me / derision and reproach all the day. I say to myself; I will not mention him, / I will speak in his name no more. / But then it becomes like fire burning in my heart, / imprisoned in my bones; / I grow weary holding it in, I cannot endure it. The word of the Lord. (Jeremiah 20:7-9)

I urge you, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God, your spiritual worship. Do not conform yourselves to this age but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and pleasing and perfect. (Romans 12:1-2)

May the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ enlighten the eyes of our hearts, that we may know what is the hope that belongs to our call. (Ephesians 1:17-18)

Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer greatly from the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed and on the third day, be raised. Then Peter took Jesus aside and began to rebuke him, “God forbid, Lord! No such thing shall ever happen to you.” He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are an obstacle to me. You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do.” Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. What profit would there be for one to gain the whole world and forfeit his life? Or what can one give in exchange for his life? For the Son of Man will come with his angels in his Father’s glory, and then he will repay all according to his conduct.” (Matthew 16:21-27)

Piety

“Gotta Tell Somebody,” by Don Francisco

Then He called His three disciples

That were with Him on the way

He led them and my wife and me

To where our daughter lay

 

He took her by the hand

He told her, child arise

And the words were barely spoken

When she opened up her eyes

 

She rose and walked across the room

And stood there at our sides

My wife knelt down and held her close

And at last she really cried

 

Then Jesus told us both to see

Our daughter had some food

And as to how her life was saved

Not to speak a word, not to speak a word

 

I got to tell Somebody

I got to tell Somebody

I got to tell Somebody

What Jesus did, What Jesus did for me

 

Ya know He gave me life

When my hope was dead

When there was grief

He brought joy instead

 

I’ve got to tell Somebody

What Jesus did

I got to tell Somebody

What Jesus did

I got to tell Somebody

What Jesus did for me!

(Shamelessly borrowed from Christian troubadour Don Francisco, his album: “He’s Alive!” I first heard this song 50 years ago and prayed ever since.)

Study

The voices I hear today: 

Jeremiah: Knows that prayer is complete, honest, open (and not always sunshine-and-roses) conversation with God. He feels cheated & suckered into his Prophet’s Role, but he can’t stop yammering for God to His people. He’s got to TELL SOMEBODY!

Paul (yesterday): Not many of us are wise or powerful or of noble birth. Our God chooses the foolish, the weak, the lowly, to reduce to nothing (evangelize!) those who are something. God gave us Christ Jesus, His wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption, so that, as it is written, “Whoever boasts, should boast in the Lord!” We’ve got to TELL SOMEBODY! 

Paul (today): See the greater picture. Do everything – Give everything – for the greater glory of God and your eternal salvation. Be foolish, weak, and lowly and GO TELL SOMEBODY!

Jesus: Following Me will not be “fun.” You must give your life as you know it now to be My Messenger and Bringer of LOVE. I promise you will have eyes to see and ears to hear and voice to express My Love to all my Children. And I will come back, and then all will be resolved. (The Bad Guys DON’T WIN in the end! – Thank you, St. Matthew!) Now, Go Tell Somebody How Much I Love Them! 

St. Maximillian Kolbe: “Love unto the sacrifice of your life!”

A wonderful meditation from Give Us This Day, August 8th, challenged me to consider “What is my real intent in becoming Christian/Catholic/Cursillista?”  

Part is shared here:

We do not so much need a new curriculum, new translations, new rituals for worship, or new myths and oracles as we need deeper, more radical appropriation of what we have already received. We need to penetrate the deceit and evil in our hearts and institutions, peel away corruption and illusion, and hold ourselves open before the searing light of Christ.

A problem with spiritual pursuits is that we bring to the forms our addictions. We pray to become better addicts. We seek power, prestige, health, wholeness. Here our prayer is a function of our disease, our attachment to creation. Then spirituality becomes akin to aerobics, jogging, healthy food—something to do that will make us more attractive and successful. We approach spirituality for what it will do for us, not for what it will do for God. (Loretta Ross, Letters from the Holy Ground)

So, what do I do with all this wisdom, encouragement, and scolding?

Action

I’ve Got to Tell Somebody.

Today I texted the Love of Jesus to a gay business associate who claims to be an atheist, to my wife in North Carolina, and my sister in Austin. I can’t believe the flood of Love and Blessing that God has showered on me amid a killer Pandemic, with our beloved son enduring a vicious divorce and nearly dying, spending hours on cross-country flights to Oregon.  

Enforced teleworking has allowed me to maintain steady income support for our family. And yet, here I am celebrating the beauty of God’s Creation out here in “Goonies Country.”

The miracle of ZOOM has blessed me with an ongoing relationship with my Franciscan and Parish communities, my brothers in Group Reunion, and our Marriage Encounter Share Group. I have not had time to worry over what I’m missing because God keeps opening new doors to a relationship with Him through my beloved Catholic/Franciscan/Cursillo/Marriage Encounter family.

I get to Tell Somebody – and Listen to Somebody Tell Me – almost daily about how God’s Love is working in their lives – and that gives me new insight about how to tell others how God’s Love is working in my life. 

As a famous DMV televangelist used to say: “So, what!?!”

Here’s the “secret” we’ve had all along: 

Make a Friend! Be a Friend! Bring Christ to your Friend! And celebrate the miracle of salvation, redemption, and foolish empowerment that will occur when we let go of our addictions and egos.

De Colores!